🏏 Sun, 24 May 2026 16:00 BST
Manchester City
vs
Aston Villa
4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1
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- The climax of the title race. 2nd-placed Manchester City (74 points, two games left) face 4th-placed Aston Villa (62 points). City are 8 points behind leaders Arsenal (82 points), but a win here would take them to 77 points, and with a big win in the postponed Matchday 37 game against Tottenham they retain a chance of overtaking Arsenal on goal difference.
- In this season's Matchday 9 meeting at Villa Park, Aston Villa won 1-0. City have kept up good form with 4 wins and 1 draw in their last five, sealing a 3-0 win over Brentford last time out. Villa are inconsistent with 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses in their last five, but they earned a big 4-2 win over Liverpool last time out.
- City's false nine Phil Foden (25) is "a jewel produced by City's academy." With "delicate ball touches and dribbling in tight situations and decisive final passes" as his weapons, the 2023-24 PFA Player of the Year is a versatile attacker who shows high adaptability across multiple positions such as No. 10, winger and false nine, and he will carve out the path to the title.
- Ollie Watkins (30), who leads Villa's line, is an England striker. A complete forward combining goalscoring and assist ability who "breaks the opposing back line with agile movement and runs in behind," he has a record of scoring the winning goal against the Netherlands in the EURO 2024 semi-final. He also contributes to the team's defence with diligent pressing.
- Villa's midfield linchpin Douglas Luiz (28) faces his former club Manchester City. The Brazil midfielder was at City from 2017 to 2019 but did not get much game time, moving to Villa after a loan at Girona. The capable player who "combines ball-winning and game-making at a high level in midfield" looks to repay his old club.
- City deploy Brazilian Savinho (20) on the left wing and Ghanaian Antoine Semenyo (24) on the right. Together with Belgian Tijjani Reijnders (23) in the centre, a young attack springs into action. Against them, Villa look to threaten on the counter with the explosive pace of Jamaica international Leon Bailey (27).